This blog is about family, including those in my family tree, the primary focus, but also the family of faith, the family of community, and ultimately the family of man. It is a journey of discovery: Who they were, What they did (and Why), and When, Where, and How they lived.

The suspected chemical weapons attack on Douma was a brutal finale for a town that had haunted Syrian President Bashar Assad for seven years from right on his doorstep. The leafy suburb on Damascus’ outskirts was the bastion of one of the toughest, most disciplined Islamist factions in Syria’s rebellion, raining mortars on Assad’s seat of power and holding out for years under devastating siege. Now destroyed and defeated, it will be the scene of an international fact-finding mission that arrives Saturday to try to determine what happened there.

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from BBC News (UK)

LEFT-CENTER BIAS

Syria: What can Western military intervention achieve?As the US and UK governments continue to discuss their potential response to the suspected chemical weapons attack in Douma in Syria, what could military intervention achieve? The critical military virtue of surprise has long since disappeared for the United States and its allies in the strikes it is planning against Syrian military facilities.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir discussed recent developments in Syria in an telephone call on Thursday, a Turkish presidential source said, adding that the two leaders agreed to remain in close contact. The call with Putin came after Erdogan earlier spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump on the phone and also exchanged views on Syria.

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from DW News(Deutsche Welle)

Broadcasting & Media Production Company in Bonn, GermanyIs the Syria conflict an economic war?Every war has economic impacts. Escalating the conflict in Syria, a multi-sided proxy war involving multiple regional and global powers, will have broad consequences. Higher oil prices may be among the outcomes. A remarkable series of events over the past few weeks have sent commodity markets analysts scrambling to assess how the prices of oil, gas, aluminum, and other commodities might be affected by rising geopolitical tensions between powers on opposing sides of the multi-party proxy war in Syria.

Ukraine probes former PM's 'campaign funding' by KadhafiUkrainian anti-corruption investigators on Thursday told AFP they were looking into whether former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko took cash from Moamer Kadhafi's regime in Libya for a presidential campaign. In France, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been charged over suspected illegal financing and corruption involving the former Libyan.

Patrick F. “Pat” McManus, 84, beloved husband, father and New York Times bestselling author, passed away peacefully surrounded by family in Spokane. Private funeral service will be held at the family's request. In lieu of gift fish, donations may be made to Hospice of Spokane.

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from Military Times

and Air Force Times, Army Times, Marine Corps Times, and Navy Times

Here’s how the Army is trying to catch up to Russia and China on missiles, artilleryWhile senior officials admit that the Army is currently outgunned and outranged in its artillery and missiles programs, the service’s secretary and top general told Congress that fixing that problem at every level is their top priority. “Both China and Russia have passed us up in terms of range and rapid fire,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma during the Army posture hearing Thursday.

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from Mises Institute

[Information from this site may not be reliable.]

Against War in SyriaPresident Donald Trump has announced that he plans new missile strikes against the Syrian regime in response to an alleged chemical attack on Syrian civilians in a rebel-held suburb of Damascus. The US has offered no evidence of the attack, since, as the Financial Times has admitted, confirmation of any such attack could take weeks. Moreover, confirming the attack took place at all is not the same thing as confirming that the Syrian regime was responsible for it.

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from MSN

News & Media WebsiteMattis warns Trump on risks of escalating US involvement in SyriaTop military officials, including Defense Secretary James Mattis, warned President Donald Trump during an afternoon meeting Thursday that he risks escalating US involvement in Syria if he goes forward with the type of aggressive bombing campaign he has pressed for over the past week, according to US and western officials briefed on the conversation.

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from NCWLIFE

TV Channel in Wenatchee, WA

Newhouse to Interior Department: Stop Ignoring Local Community on Bringing Grizzlies to Central WA
U.S. Rep Dan Newhouse (R-WA) expressed deep concern regarding the U.S. Department of Interior’s announcement in March of Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s support for transporting grizzly bears into Central Washington. Newhouse wrote in a letter to Secretary Zinke: “Bringing grizzlies to the North Cascades would have grave impacts on my constituents in Washington’s 4th Congressional District. Just as my constituents have consistently expressed their steadfast opposition to this proposal, I will continue to stand in opposition to a plan that threatens the way of life in North Central Washington. I opposed this proposal when it was introduced by the previous administration and will continue to do so if the current administration moves forward with this plan.”

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from The Spokesman-Review

Newspaper in Spokane, Washington

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fromSputnik

RIGHT-CENTER BIAS, MIXED, Broadcasting & Media Production Company out of Moscow, Russia

Initiative to Break Up California Into 3 States Likely on Fall BallotA California venture capitalist is trying to break up the Golden State into three, and he has a good deal of backing, too. Tim Draper authored an initiative, “CAL 3,” to turn California into three separate states and has nearly double the necessary signatures to get it on the ballot in November.